HOPE (First Week of Advent)
A HOPE-FILLED ADVENT by Megan Burdolski, Director of Stewardship For many of us, the four candles on our Advent wreath symbolize hope, faith, joy & peace. Over the next four weeks, I plan to reflect on these themes while sharing my personal journey with you this Advent season. I am naturally an optimist so hope is part of my being. This year, we are navigating the end of my father’s life. Even so, I remain filled with hope. My father is no spring chicken. He is 96 years old and my sister & I have already grieved for him as he endured quintuple bypass surgery, a re-section of his cancerous colon and several bouts of pneumonia that many his age would not survive. We have believed his life was nearing the end on more than one occasion, yet he is still alive. Four years ago, before our mother’s death, he told us quite frankly that “we need to face the likelihood that I will outlive your mom.” She was eleven years younger so we had always expected him to go first; yet, exactly